It's here!

On my birthday. *squee*

Click To Play

You can also read the article here that has a link to an impromptu interview we did about 18 months ago.

Blast this project!

Here's my dilemma: I've got this project to complete by mid-December. It's a big & scary one. I can take this big scary project down two routes.

Route One:
I can go the "look, I'm a professional puppet-builder, look at how my puppets fall in line with most other puppet builders' style of building!" Not the finished look of the puppet, but the building style, the process if you will--built up with foam underneath, covered in antron fleece, made in the same way & eventually similar to looking like a "professional" puppet.

Route Two:
Or do I do the crazy-butt-stacey way of doing things where they look as though they've had a stroke (see Little Red Riding Hood or the Coyote's fan as an example).

I have been asked by some awesome people to make some awesome puppets for them & I frankly don't know if they asked me because they kinda know me, or because they like the style of puppets that I make, or if they just asked me because I'm their "best" option (i.e. they don't really know of any other puppet-builders). Seriously, if you were getting a staceyrebecca hand puppet & it was not all wonky down by the mouth & had a foam head etc, etc, would you be upset? Would you go "oh, well this is good, but where is the campy quirkiness that she's had going on for the last 6-7 years?" Would you say "Oh wow, she actually made this one look really, really nice!"

A related story: I started making WAY less craptastical puppets than I had been for puppet slams. We asked for feedback at a slam like a year ago & they said "what ever happened to that really funny puppetry group with the crappy puppets? We liked those puppets." Well..they did see them. They just saw the really funny puppetry group with the not-as-crappy puppets. So..I mean, I can't make everyone happy, that's for darn sure, but..blast, I just don't know what to do.

These puppets are going to be given to some pretty well known & rad people. Like... I think a lot of humans on the earth know who these people are. And the people receiving the puppets don't necessarily know me or my style of building, so they might be really, I dunno...unimpressed with them.

I guess I can toss a poll up about it..But you'd better hurry up & answer the poll because, dude, I should start on these like hopefully tomorrow, but in all honesty it may not happen until Friday.

Blaaarrrgh in a bucket of wet apples! Me & my "Hey, can you hold my hand while I pee for a sec?" mentality about this whole thing! This is what holds people back. Fear is a nasty old lady with a cane & she makes you eat candy that tastes like canola oil that went bad like a month ago. Yeah. Her. She also has like 15 cats.

A friend suggested I use elves. I think my next slam piece will be called "The Elves & The Puppet Maker" which will be based on a true story, except the bit about the elves existing. And stuff.

After that's all done, I get to work on my slam piece. Wheee!
I suppose we could reprise Big Benevolent Wolf....hmm...I'll have to un-cross-dress-ify him.

Ok Vote...Also, select TWO choices & tell me if you build puppets or not. Not that I can see what you said, (unless you comment)...bah, yeah, just select two for giggles, then.

being proactive instead of reactive

Of all of the puppets that I've made, I think this frog might be my favorite. I think one of the reasons for that is because I didn't get to keep him for very long. He was shown at a local art gallery in '06 and I wasn't expecting him to sell. I'd made him out of the leftover fabric from a dinosaur costume that I'd made for my son for Halloween that year. At least I think that's where the fabric came from....

I was telling a friend of mine how I am sad that I haven't kept a few key puppets in my building career...the frog, the Phoenix Coyotes Puppets, and a bunny or two. My friend said, "Well, why can't you just recreate the frog?" I thought of a long list of unreasonable reasons to not remake him, one reason being, "I don't have the same fleece." Then thought that I should at least try it no matter what color he is. Green is still the goal, here.

So I've embarked on a make-a-puppet-for-myself adventure. I am not going to post this one to Etsy and I'm not going to use it for any shows (that I know of). I'm taking my time, I'm starting over with things when they don't work right, and I'm allowing myself to put him down without being finished with him. Leaving him alone when he's not finished is actually the hardest part of this project. A) I want to see him done! B) there's a lingering fear that if I put him down, I might never find the time/motivation to pick him up again. So far, I've gone back to him. And, I'm really excited about the whole thing.

I give another workshop to another library for teens & tweens tomorrow..and then again on Thursday & the following Saturday & that ends my library run of workshops. By the way, if you live anywhere near Phoenix, just let me know if you want to know about the workshops in more detail...the Library is paying me to teach, so it's free to anyone ages 12-18.

There. I've updated. Are you happy?

I'm getting around!

I feel like I might be everywhere at once. This is a bit of late-night thought gathering, so it might be disordered & long-winded, but then again, when is my life not that way?

So I was thinking about where my puppets are as of late...
I may or may not be sending puppets to Everette, Washington (just waiting on a contract) to be sold in a bookstore/gift shop there.
My work will be not only seen, but for sale at The Trunk Space's gift art show for the next two months, the opening is this Friday night.
Commercial is still running. That's exciting.
I'm also doing a workshop at the Paramount Theater in Casa Grande, AZ on December 8th! Same as the other one, but further south & $5.00 more (if you want to go, 520-316-9290 or email michelle@paramount-theatre.com).

I feel extremely happy with myself regarding all of these "goings arounds"

Me and the Other Guy

Well, the other guy is done and there are some good pictures of him, now. I really had to begin both puppets on Sunday. I can't believe I got two done in one day! It helps when you have a lot of motivation like that.

Don, the hired puppeteer, came to pick them up this morning at 7am. These are two puppets I wish I didn't have to get rid of. But if I watch TV, I'll get to see them! (*squeee*)

So it's a bit after 10:30 and I haven't heard about whether or not they'll need me. I'm thinking they won't. Oh well. I'll only be disappointed if some extra on-hand person does it and is a bad puppeteer.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. I can't believe I did both in a single day! I feel so productive.

It begins...

After finishing up a large custom order, I've decided to reward myself with starting on the project puppet project. It starts with printing off the pattern (easy enough) and cutting it all out. I got the head cut out and decided to blog about it. Not sure why. Vanity, I suppose.

So far, so good. The directions seem easy enough to follow. So here I go...backwards into the realm of following instructions!

Me and the Contests...

So I'm the kid who is always up for a challenge. Especially when that challenge has the potential for a gleaming, shiny prize at the end of it turning it into a contest. I always put a lot of myself into these projects, and whether or not I win, I always grow as a builder and artist. Two puppets, of whom I am very proud, were both products of contests.

Little Pepe Fleece For Eyes was built for Craft Magazine & Etsy's contest to do something amazing with the Craft Logo. So that was one of my ideas (I also made finger puppets of the letters, but I'm less proud of them). I really liked how Pepe came out, and how he manipulates. He's just one of the most comfortable puppets I've made. And I gave him his own tote bag full of things with which to make finger puppets. Brilliant, I know.

Peaches was another contest participant, again through Etsy. This time the rules were to use items that were intended to only have a single use before they went into a dumpster and bring new life to those things that wouldn't have had a life otherwise (broken things..). The idea is called "Upcycling." So I rummaged through the garbage and found egg-crate packaging from our computer, spoons, forks, an old sweater that had a hole in it, a torn bed sheet, and even pink dust from a kool-aid packet. The only new things used for her were staples and glue. Of course she didn't win, but again, I love a challenge. And I learned how to turn literal garbage into something that I felt was worth something. So instead of taking up space in a landfill, she's taking up space on my top shelf in my craft room.


So today I heard about Project Puppet's annual contest. Immediately I thought about how I *should* have bought the pattern when I saw it available at Puppet Rampage! Then I thought about how much I could learn from actually following a pattern to begin with. I know I need to improve my building skills, and I've done the innovating with materials around me thing. Next is to go to the territory in which most people start: Following instructions. So tomorrow I'll buy the pattern. I'll download it, print it and do my best to follow it. Hopefully I'll update my progress here with my frustrations, successes, and photographs of how its all going. The deadline is August 31st, so I know I have some time. I'm very excited to do this. I don't think I'll win, but really, it's a great excuse to not only buy something I've kind-of wanted for a bit now, but to also push myself into being a better artist.

I make puppets.

It's true. I make them. Now, I make blog posts, too.

This is one of the first finger puppets I made. Super Chicken.

It started when I was asked to put my hand puppets into The Trunk Space, a local art gallery here in Phoenix. I had mono and couldn't get up to the sewing machine to make any more hand puppets, so I grabbed my piles of fleece and started making finger puppets. Hamburgers, penguins, whales, mushrooms, lions, cats, dogs, giraffes, monsters, ladybugs, etc. all made it over there. I think I gave them about 35 of them.

I discovered making finger puppets was addictive. Instant gratification. Unlike a hand puppet which takes a lot of time before you get to the fun part of giving it a face, hands, tongues and the what-have-you, with a finger puppet you can add all of those things in about an hour! My living room was covered in thread and fleece. My bedroom was covered in thread and fleece. I think I actually broke our vacuum cleaner because of all the thread that wound around the brushes (really, it was on it's way out anyway...I just finished it off).

A friend of mine was urging me to join a website called Etsy. I figured I had my hands full enough with trying to keep the Trunk Space supplied, so I didn't do it for several months. She finally came over to my house and set up my shop for me. She took me outside to take pictures of my puppets (that picture there is one we took that day) and then we came inside to list them. That was about a year and a half ago. If Etsy has done one thing for me (other than give me some money to fund my puppetry habit), it has been to force me to better my artwork.

By no means do I know a lot about puppetry or puppet building. I have been fortunate enough to work with and for the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, who has one of the most kind directors you'll ever meet. They have done nothing but encourage me and guide me in my less than mediocre puppet building over the last 5-and-a-half years. Because of them, I'm doing what I dreamed of doing as a child. I only regret not having done it sooner.